Mission Mission

Sure, they have movies at places like The Metreon, where you can get some fro-yo in the lobby, or Sundance Kabuki Cinemas where you can pay a mandatory convenience fee because they compost, or you can see a movie at The Balboa, where they show you a whole ‘nother mini movie before the actual movie! Check out The Wolverine, starring a few buddies of ours:

YouTube user Kyle Smeallie uploaded a video from Jack Spade’s hearing in front of the Board of Appeals where Melissa Xides, Vice President of Global Sales and Retail at Jack Spade, remarked not only that they fell in love with the gentrification of the Mission, but also the “uniqueness and character”, which they apparently now intend to help erode. Note the nice little remix at the end.

As we mentioned last week, our theater reviewers, Katie & Brittany, got to check out Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at The Orpheum. Here’s their review:

After our fun conversation with Scott Willis we were excited to head over to SHN’s Orpheum Theater and catch the biggest gay ticket in town, the national tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. A party like Priscilla warrants popping a few corks, so we headed to Blackbird in the Castro for some after-show Drama Talk and Drinks.

Brittany: I feel like this show is a drag queen, Disney, fever dream, right down to koalas coming out at the end. So fantastic that it didn’t (well, very, very little of it) ring true to me, but it was so amazing to watch. It’s like our generation’s form of vaudeville. The plot wasn’t important, what mattered was being transported to somewhere glamourous. It was a spectacle, and sometimes that’s what theatre is supposed to be.

Katie: Yeah, or it could also be described as a soft porn . . . drag show style. There was a storyline, but it didn’t matter, or make any sense. The point was the ejaculation of sequins, costumes, dancing and gayness – which is great!

B: Which is so fun.

K: I do wish we had 2 or 3 drinks before the show because I think I would have been in a more “let’s watch a party” mode and not my usual “lets analyze and look for meaning” mode. I would have been more in the spirit of what this show is, which is basically just a big, fabulous, party on stage. Those costumes were ridiculously amazing though, right?!

B: They were crazy – absolutely insane, they didn’t make any fucking sense. I don’t understand why people were dressed in what they were dressed in most of the time, but they were fabulous.

K: But what’s the deal with the accents though? Other than Scott (Bernadette) who did an english accent the whole time, everyone else went between an Australian accent to something else I didn’t understand. As always, my wish for any piece of theater is either learn the accent or don’t do it. Just do it or don’t.

B: Yeah, there was no consistency. I can totally willfully suspend my disbelief and believe you all are in Australia, and no one has an Australian accent, and that’s fine. That fact that some of you are trying it, and others aren’t, it’s like what’s going on guys? It was an awesome big gay party though – not necessarily a great piece of theatre – but really, really fun.

K: Fun it was.

The Verdict: Do you like pretty people and things? Are you into 70s/80s hits? Do you want more confetti in your hair? If you answered yes to any of those you should probably see Priscilla. Do you go to theatre to wrestle with your ongoing existentialist crisis? Probably not for you. But if you’re looking to get-away-from-it-all, it might do the trick (or it might make you punch one of those koalas).

The Drama Talk: Priscilla is very old broadway, just with more drag queens. Lots of chorus girls and boys, huge dance numbers, lots of sequins. It is a spectacular spectacle, those 500+ costumes won a Tony for a reason. It has a Disney ending, and problems are solved with a swift kick to the balls. To be honest, it’s far from a favorite play, but this is an impressive production. Priscilla is like cotton candy, very sweet not much substance.

Priscilla is here for a very short run, so if you want to go snag tickets on Goldstar for $55. Once those are gone, for tickets go to SHN’s site or call 888-746-1799.

The Drinks: We heard Blackbird had just had a fabulous makeover, so we headed there for some cocktails. Brittany got the Stratosphere #2, to tame her bubbly craving after watching bottles of champagne consumed during the play. Katie got a Rye-n-Gosling, which tasted as delectable as the name implies. Within minutes the cute boys seated next to us started making out, and we knew we had come to the right place.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert runs August 21-31 at the SHN Orpheum Theatre.

Reader Nick and his chick have a little tale of getting more than they bargained for:

My GF and I bought a dozen “Rainbow” brand eggs at BiRite a little over a week ago. No less than 10 out of the 12 eggs have been double yolkers. It’s bonkers. We did some research and found out that such phenomena tend to happen in groups among flocks of chickens about the same age. Odds are high this wasn’t the only magic dozen sold at BiRite recently. This means the Mission is probably crawling with double yolk madness right about now.

Thanks for sharing, Nick. Anyone else eggsperiencing this phenomenon?

P.S. All that extra black space on either side of the video really gives me room to ponder my own mortality. Just kidding, it doesn’t. Don’t forget to turn your phone!

Our theater reviewers, Brittany and Katie, got the chance to sit down with an actor in the production of the SHN show, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The musical, which opened last night, is based on the 1994 Australian movie of the same name. The film starred a young Guy Pierce, a young Hugo Weaving and relatively young Terrance Stamp.

The touring show now playing at The Orpheum stars Scott Willis as Bernadette, the Terrance Stamp character. Read their interview from El Rio after the jump, and their review of the show next week.

[Scott as Scott, by Katie]

[Scott, center, as Bernadette via SHN]

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Like a big asterisk over the Mission, hovering there, giving it a way out, just in case.

Larisa, from Factory 1 Design, writes in to respond to the heated debate raging on the post about treetopping on Stevenson Street. She writes that:

We all work really hard to keep our little corner of the mission awesome and the church blighted our street in an instant.

Two bits of info that were missing are 1) this was done by the greek church and 2) they hired a hauling company to do it. The urban forest guys may not have passed on that info.

There were at least 40-50 nests in those trees.

Andy writes in to let us know that tomorrow (Wednesday, 8/14) is a big hearing to “call a Spade a Spade: Jack Spade/Kate Spade is one big company”.  He reiterates that he’s in for a public debate that we (Mission Mission) will run if there are any commenters who oppose the actions to block Jack Spade and are willing to publicly stand up for what they believe.

You can follow the story of the opposition here.

The press release after the jump.

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Barbara sends these in:

UPDATE: They may have been in pursuit of a common suspect. In 2002 I saw a cop car speeding up 18th Street so fast it made me jump to the side. Minutes later the car collided with a wall at 17th and Dolores, killing the officer.

Ben Carlson from Friends of the Urban Forest informs us of some extreme pruning on Stevenson Street, near The Armory, that basically leaves the trees for dead. The process, known as topping, is illegal in San Francisco, with fines of $1,754 per tree.

Before

[Google Street View]

After

[San Francisco DPW]

The San Francisco Department of Public Works issued a fine this week of $17,540 to the owner of property in the Mission where trees were “topped” in June. The fine is for $1,754 per tree for 10 topped trees. Topping is an excessive form of pruning that damages and often kills trees, severely diminishes the benefits trees provide, and is illegal in San Francisco (Article 16, Sec. 811 of the Public Works Code).

The DPW and Friends of the Urban Forest were notified by concerned neighbors that the trees, on Stevenson Street adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation, had been “massacred.” One resident observed birds trying to find their nests among the piles of discarded foliage on the ground.

“We’re afraid that incidents of tree topping are likely to rise, because the city is transferring its tree maintenance responsibilities to property owners who don’t know how to care for trees,” said Doug Wildman, program director of Friends of the Urban Forest. “The city’s tree maintenance program is understaffed and underfunded, and consequently our urban forest is in decline. We’re working closely with city officials to identify possible solutions.”

That looks pretty harsh. Why would you want trees that look like that? I happen to really like those trees. Ficus Microcarpa, I believe? They’re what the trees in The Secret Alley are built to resemble. I mean, I’m a plant eater, so obviously I’m not against killing plants, but this just seems lame.

Ben adds:

Anyone who sees a tree being topped, or that has already been topped, should report it to the city, along with the address of the tree, the name of the company or individual responsible for the topping (if known), and a digital photo (if possible). Topping may be reported by calling 311, or by writing to urbanforestry@sfdpw.org.

Property owners can ensure the proper maintenance of their trees by using only ISA-certified arborists. Friends of the Urban Forest maintains a list of such arborists at http://www.fuf.net/resources-reference/arborist-referrals/.

For more information about the fine for the Stevenson Street trees, or about the city’s urban forestry program, contact DPW spokesperson Rachel Gordon at 415-554-6045.